Am writing this on behalf of my daughter and son in law who have a lovely 8 month old male Rottweiler pup and almost 3 yr old female Golden Retriever. Both dogs are entire at present.

The pup is getting very big, and is currently around 42kg and measures 25" at the shoulder, all dog, no fat! The Retriever is much smaller, 30 kg and 21" and they live happily together. Just lately, the Rott has been marking in the house especially where the bitch has been lying. He has also wee'd on her head several times, and marked on her bedding. He's also marking constantly whilst outside on walks. Although we realise this is probably just an adolescent thing, I've no experience with a male dog doing this indoors, especially this breed, and am wondering what would be the best way to deal with it?

Is he trying to be the dominant dog in the house by doing this? On outward appearance, the bitch seems to be the boss. Is he "claiming" the bitch as "his" and if so, is this something my daughter should be aware of when meeting other dogs, especially males? The pup has never shown any aggression towards other dogs, in fact he has been attacked many times usually by smaller dogs and has never so far retaliated.

So, are they on the road to getting this boy castrated? They feel he's much too young at the moment, and I always advise my puppy owners dogs usually grow out of the teenage phase, and that if they can ride it through, the dog much better being castrated later on. What would be a sensible age for castration of a large breed such as this? Is a year the bare minimum or ok?

As you can see, we could do with some experienced advice.

Thanks in advance

Tanya

All i can say is i feel their pain, my male BT is the same. Is the bitch due in season? My boy gets worse when the girls are due in. I look forward to hearing the suggestions.

Would say the minimum of 2 and half years but the dog will still be prone to associated problems. If the idea is to stop unwanted mating then I would neuter the bitch at about 18 months but if they can cope with keeping them separate I would do neither under 5 years.

Would try to train out the unwanted behaviour, castration may well not cure anyway, give lots of obedience type training so the dog is in no doubt who has the last word, with luck the marking will then stop and it will no longer be his job.

> castration may well not cure anyway

My castrated male marks indoors, my entire one does not

Thanks Nova. Why would he be doing this anyway? Is he claiming  all that he is marking? My previous entire male did once mark upon entering a dog boarder's house, he just cocked his leg up on the arm of the sofa! I guessed another dog had probably marked there previously because he'd never done it in our house - I was mortified!!

The bitch is going to be mated on her next season - they're clued up about keeping them totally separate. She is about 12 weeks post season. I'm thinking this behaviour from the boy has started around the time of her last season.

He is well socialised and has short training sessions every day. Perhaps they need to do more?

Well I am not training specialist but all ways let my dogs know it is my home and everything in it is mine and I have only very rarely had a junior dog mark. I don't go telling them this of course but I think it to myself when correcting them for anything I catch them doing around the house that I don't approve of or want.

Would increase the training and sharpen up the speed of response from the dog and never give up once an instruction is given it must be obeyed, if you think it will not do not give the order, try very hard never to fail and finish the exercise on a good note loads of praise when he gets it right. Would also go back to going outside with him to pee and praising over the top when he goes outside.

Use detergent to clean up inside and never bleach.

Why does he do it, don't know if even he will know that, some instinct is kicking in now he is adolescent and will stop when he is mature but you need to be able to persuade him that it is not required and he will be better off not doing it, not by punishing him for doing it but praising him for resisting the temptation, it will need vigilance for a while until he understand your will is stronger than his natural urge.

The bitch being 3 yrs old why not have her spayed? Much easier to wait out his maturity with out worrying about accidental pregnancy.

Use the umbilical cord training- Attach a leash to you and every where you go so does the dog- basically re house training to get rid of unwanted
behavior. Have had intact & fixed of both males & females and have never had one lift in my house. He's being dirty and not respecting your home so I wouldn't
allow him free time unsupervised at any time. A lot of obedience training as well.  My Junior is 12 yrs old and has never done this and that's how I house trained
him.

Could also have a shake can this way once you catch him you can shake it and hopefully the noise will deter him.

At his age I'd suggest he's simply extending what he'd naturally do - but going in the wrong place.  I notice that my boys start to pee over things outside when they get a bit more confident, this includes laying their scent over each others - so much so that each one has had their head pee'd on whilst not paying attention, or walking into the stream!!  Young dogs get so focussed on their peeing urges that they 'forget' where they are and can easily lift their leg in the wrong place.  In my dogs it seems to be coupled to their noses rather than their brains so a 'scent aware' dog will not  necessarily realise what they are doing :)

It's not usually too difficult to solve but does require vigilance.  On walks get him used to peeing where you want - not where he wants.  For instance I don't allow mine to pee up cars, telegraph poles or on house fences or walls.  I walk briskly past and say 'not here'.  They soon get used to this and you can use the same command indoors.  If he cocks his leg, stop him, take him outside immediately and praise him going in the garden.  Make sure your daughter is aware of the signs too - some dogs clearly signal they are about to lift their leg.  However some are sneaky and quick - one of mine can manage a crafty leg lift almost whilst walking so a persistent pee'er needs a bit more effort!!

Where he's had mistakes indoors do clean up thoroughly and wash the bedding.  Don't castrate for this but just wait it out - maturity will make all the difference :)

> He's being dirty and not respecting your home

Totally NOT true!

He's a pup, he doesn't know what respecting a home means, and dogs do not think they are being "dirty" because they have reached the age to mark.  Putting human thoughts on a canine is not wise.

Hi Dollface, the bitch is out of my bitch, has been shown and will be having a litter on her next season. She will be spayed but not just yet. The dog will be going away for a few days around the crutial time of her next season so no chance of any accidents!

I do tend to agree with not castrating for this, and will pass on all the sensible suggestions to them. They have done a great job with him up till now, I'm sure they'll work through this.

My first male was kept entire & I remember being told not to allow him to cock his leg up on everything. I guess a command which means "not here" used outside would be good for inside too. He never once marked in my house but I think that was probably more luck than training or judgement :).

Have just got back from walking together, he is starting to dwarf all the Goldens in the group, but continues to show good temperament, although a Rottie brushing past your leg feels like a baby rhino coming through! I really do hope his temperament stays the same as it is now, he's such a lovely boy, just a "teenager" lol!

Hi Tanya, my rott boy did that at around that age but doesn't do it any more.  He has had a couple of slip ups since but nothing too significant.

I found that he would cock his leg and pee on my bitch when she was peeing and even now given the chance he will barge her out the way when she is peeing so that he can pee on top of it.  What I found worked when he was younger was distracting him i.e. when catching him in the act an almighty 'NO!' seemed to bring him back to his senses.

He peed on my bitches bed as well as her head a few times and marks anything taller than a blade of grass.  despite the urge to pee on everything he has never tried to hump other dogs apart from a friends bull terrier and even then he tends to get the wrong end.  In my house the bitch is definitely the boss although when we are out on walks he will act the hero and the boss.

I would advise them not to get him castrated as the risk of bone cancer and other cancers in rotts increases significantly in neutered dogs.  I don't have access to any of the literature at the moment but am sure it is significantly increased in those under either 5 or 3 years if they have been castrated.

On a seperate note (and I hope your sons dog is not the same as mine) as the teenage years hit him hard.  He was the perfect pup until 8/9 months old then turned into the proverbial devil dog and hasn't really come out of that phase.  It was almost overnight that it happened and peeing in the other dogs bed became the least of my worries :-(

Oooh pretty exciting to be looking forward to a litter :-)

When I take my boys for a walk they are only allowed to lift when we 1st go for a walk a couple times and then when we are almost home.
I don't allow them to lift at all during the walk unless they really have to go. Now only one boy left R.I.P Taz & Dozer. I have to watch Junior
now since we got the deck- he seems to think its ok to lift on it- so always making sure he goes down the stairs to do that- lil bratt!

Hopefully he grows outta his lifting in the house, I am sure if you stay on him he will soon stop.
My friend's boston who is 10 I think still intact still lifts in her house- but she also isn't on him all the time. their lil female
now spayed no problems with her at all. I did suggest putting his bedding & food where he likes to lift and that seemed
to help a bit.

Junior every now and then still lifts on T-Bone outside mostly right after I bath them, so have to let them out separately
for a couple days.

Best of luck with ur boy :-) Are you showing him to?

Totally NOT true!

He's a pup, he doesn't know what respecting a home means, and dogs do not think they are being "dirty" because they have reached the age to mark.  Putting human thoughts on a canine is not wise.

Sorry from your post seemed like you are biting my head off-

To me this is being dirty in your home- it does come down to one lift in the house then you no you must watch them very closely to avoid it from
happening again. JMO :-)

When I 1st moved to our new house Junior went upstairs and lifted in my son's room, he never did this b4 ever. This was only day 1 of living here. So for the next couple days I kept
him on leash and walked him around the house so he new this was our new home and he needed to respect as that. Never had a problem
after that- he's 12 yrs old & still intact- very proud of my boy! :-)

At 8 months he is more than capable of being fertile and mating the Golden so he will need to "go away" for her entire season not just the few days in the middle. My friend's 8 month Golden has just mated his auntie and he had been given the injection to reduce his libido!